JPH0431130B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a virtual disk control method for an expanded storage device.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, information processing apparatuses have been known that are provided with an extended storage device that is capable of extremely high-speed data transfer between the main storage device and the main storage device. In such conventional information processing devices, the expanded storage device is used only as a temporary file, so the data held by the user is transferred at a much faster transfer speed than the expanded storage device. For example, it had to be used on a magnetic disk device because of its slow speed.

In view of these circumstances, a control method for an extended storage device that can also be used as a permanent file has been proposed (for example, in Japanese Patent Application No.
(See No. 178722). This is to make the data format on the expanded storage device similar to that of a magnetic disk device, and to simulate the expanded storage device as if it were a magnetic disk device when an input/output request is made.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the control method according to the above proposal. When using the main storage device 6 and the expansion storage device 5 capable of high-speed data transfer as a virtual disk device, the user program 1, its object program 2, and the RTP (runtime input/output routine) included in the object program 2 A runtime package) 3 and an operating system (OS) 4 are involved. When used as a virtual disk device, it is necessary to temporarily transfer data stored in a magnetic disk device (not shown) to the extended storage device 5 via the main storage device 6, and this process is performed by a normal utility program. It is done by twisting. Further, the processed results are output or stored in the magnetic disk device again. In order to enable access as a high-speed virtual disk device without changing the user program 1, and to enable smooth processing of data evacuation, etc., the data format on the extended storage device 5 is set to the same format as a magnetic disk. It is said that In response to an input/output request from user program 1 to the virtual disk device,
When RTP3 identifies that the request is for a virtual disk device, it passes control to OS4. OS4 simulates the expanded storage device as if it were a magnetic disk device, passes data to the program in response to input requests, and outputs the count part and key part as necessary in response to output requests. It is added to the beginning of the data to be processed and stored on the extended storage device 5 via the main storage device 6.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

By the way, when simulating the operation of a magnetic disk device, for example in search processing, it is necessary to refer to many records on the extended storage device. On the other hand, although extended storage devices can transfer data with the main storage device, they generally cannot be directly accessed by a processor. Therefore, according to the method of referencing records by transferring data from the expanded storage device to the main storage device on a record-by-record basis, data transfer between the expanded storage device and the main storage device is frequently required. , there is a problem that processing efficiency decreases.

The present invention solves these problems,
The purpose is to reduce the frequency of input/output between the extended storage device and the main storage device when simulating the operation of a magnetic disk device.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a virtual disk control method for an expanded storage device in an information processing device having a main storage device and an expanded storage device capable of data transfer between the main storage device and the expanded storage device. When controlling the virtual disk of the expanded storage device by adjusting the data format on the storage device to the data format of the magnetic disk device and making it possible to access the expanded storage device as a virtual disk device, a virtual disk is created on the main storage device. A plurality of track image buffers are provided to hold the latest image for one track in a disk device, and when simulating the operation of a disk device when accessing a virtual disk device, data reference operations necessary for access are performed on the track image buffers. Input/output between the track image buffer and the extended storage device is performed on a track-by-track basis.

[Effect]

Multiple track image buffers on the main storage device hold the latest images of multiple tracks of a virtual disk device, and when simulating the operation of a magnetic disk device, data necessary for access is referenced on this track image buffer. Operations such as search operations, read operations, and write operations are performed, and data transfer between the extended storage device and the main storage device is performed in units of tracks. Therefore, efficient simulation can be performed by reducing the frequency of input/output between the extended storage device and the main storage device.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a main part block diagram showing an example of an information processing device to which the present invention is applied, in which 10 is a main storage device, 11 is an expanded storage device used as a virtual disk device, and 12 is a main storage device 10 and expanded storage device. a transfer means for inputting and outputting data to and from the device 11;
13 is a processor having a simulation execution means 14; This simulation execution means 14 is realized by a simulation execution program of a processor.

The extended storage device 11 is managed in units of track capacity of the virtual disk device, as shown by the dotted lines in the figure, and each partition stores data for one track in a format similar to that of a magnetic disk device. Ru.

The main storage device 10 is also provided with a plurality of track image buffers 15 having a capacity equal to the capacity of one track, that is, a partition of the extended storage device 11. Data input/output is performed in track units at high speed between the extended storage device 11 and the track image buffer 15 on the main storage device 10.

2 to 5 are flowcharts showing an example of virtual disk simulation processing performed by the simulation execution means 14, in which FIG. 2 is a seek process, FIG. 3 is a search process, FIG. 4 is a read process, and FIG. The figures show each write process.

When reading data from the virtual disk device, the simulation execution means 14 executes a simulation that matches a command sequence, such as a seek, search, and read command sequence, given by an object program or the like, and writes the data to the virtual disk device. In the same way, a simulation is performed that matches the given seek, search, and write command sequence. Simulation is similarly performed when commands other than seek, search, read, and write are given, but in the following explanation, only the simulation processing related to the above commands will be explained.

In FIG. 1, a simulation of reading data from an extended storage device 11 used as a virtual disk device is performed, for example, as follows.

That is, the simulate execution means 14 first executes the second
As shown in the figure, a search is made to see if there is a track image buffer on the main memory 10 that holds the contents of the track with the number specified by the seek command (S1), and if there is, the specified track is noted. The seek process ends and the process moves to the next search process (S2, S4). However, if there is no specified track in any of the current track image buffers, secure an appropriate track image buffer (e.g., an empty buffer or a buffer with the oldest content), and use the arrow in Figure 6 for example. As shown at 201, the contents of the track specified in the secured track image buffer are transferred from the extended storage device 11 via the transfer means 12 (S3). Then, the process moves to step S4.

In the search process, as shown in FIG. 3, the simulation execution means 14 first searches for the record specified by the search command on the track image buffer that holds the track of interest (S10), and if the specified record is found. If so, the search process ends and the process moves to read process (S11). On the other hand, if it is not found, search for a track image buffer that holds a track with the next track number of the track you are currently focusing on (S12), and if it is found, shift your attention to this next track and return to step S10 to repeat the above steps. Search for similar records (S13, S15), and if not, secure an appropriate track image buffer,
As shown by the arrow 202 in FIG. 6, the contents of the track next to the currently focused track are transferred from the extended storage device 11 to the secured track image buffer via the transfer means 12 (S14), and step S1
Move to 5.

In the read process, the simulation execution means 14 performs the process shown in FIG. 4, and for example, as shown by the arrow 203 in FIG. The data is then transferred to the buffer RBF on the main storage device (S20).

Next, a simulated operation when rewriting data in the extended storage device 11 used as a virtual disk device will be described. For example, seek-search-write is a typical command sequence for rewriting data on a virtual disk device.
The simulation execution means 14 performs the seek process shown in FIG. 2 and the search process shown in FIG. 3 in the same manner as the above-described read process to find the record specified by the search command on the track image buffer. Note that in this seek and search processing, as in the case of reading, if there is no track image buffer that holds the contents of the track you want to focus on, or if there is no track image buffer that contains the record you want to find, the arrows in FIG. As shown at 301, a process is performed to transfer the contents of a predetermined track of the extended storage device 11 to an appropriate track image buffer.

When the specified record is found by the above-mentioned seek and search processing, in the write processing, the data of the record found by the search command is specified by the write command as shown by the arrow 302 in Fig. 7, for example, as shown in Fig. 5. The contents of the track image buffer are rewritten with the contents of the buffer WBF (S30), and the contents of the rewritten track image buffer are stored in the extended storage device 11.
is written to the corresponding portion via the transfer means 12 as shown by the arrow 303 in FIG. 7 (S31).

As can be seen from the processing shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, even after the simulation of the command sequence is completed, the latest state of the tracks of the virtual disk device is maintained in the plurality of track image buffers 15, and the next Since these are referred to in the simulation, efficient simulation is possible in this respect as well.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention maintains the latest image of tracks in an extended storage device used as a virtual disk device during a track image buffer on the main storage device, and simulates the operation of the disk device when accessing the virtual disk device. When doing so, data reference operations necessary for access such as search, read, and write operations are performed on the track image buffer, and input/output between the extended storage device and the track image buffer is performed on a track-by-track basis. Therefore, there is an effect that the number of inputs and outputs between the main storage device and the extended storage device can be reduced and simulation processing can be performed at high speed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a main part showing an example of an information processing device to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a seek process performed by the simulation execution means 14, and FIG. 3 is a search process performed by the simulation execution means 14. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a read process performed by the simulate execution means 14, and FIG.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a read operation from a virtual disk device, FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a rewriting operation of a virtual disk device, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a write operation performed by an extended storage device. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a control method when used as a virtual disk device. In the figure, 10 is a main storage device, 11 is an expanded storage device, 12 is a transfer means, 13 is a processor, 1
4 is a simulation execution means, and 15 is a track image buffer.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A virtual disk control method for an expanded storage device in an information processing device having a main storage device and an expanded storage device capable of data transfer between the main storage device, comprising: When controlling the virtual disk of the expanded storage device by adjusting the data format to the data format of the magnetic disk device and making it possible to access the expanded storage device as a virtual disk device, one A plurality of track image buffers are provided to hold the latest images for tracks, and when simulating the operation of a disk device when accessing a virtual disk device, the data reference operation necessary for access is performed on the track image buffer, and the A virtual disk control method for an expanded storage device, characterized in that input/output between an image buffer and the expanded storage device is performed on a track-by-track basis.